Tensions between law enforcement and residents of a St. Louis suburb ignited over the weekend after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer — a story that, for many, seemed all too familiar to Trayvon Martin's.

Anger over the death of Michael Brown, 18, spilled over into looting and vandalism Sunday night in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb about 8 miles north of St. Louis with a population of about 20,000.

Here are some of the major storylines in the Ferguson shooting, which has quickly risen to national prominence.

The shooting on Saturday

The details of the shooting are in dispute.

Brown was walking to his grandmother's house with a friend on Saturday afternoon when the two were approached by a police officer, according to Brown's family. The reason for the approach has not yet been revealed by the local police department, but officials say the officer and Brown became involved in an altercation in the officer's car.

The police said the two were vying for the officer's gun — Brown was unarmed — though Ferguson residents have balked at that claim. Brown's friend has said that the officer tried to force Brown into the car after approaching the teens, who were walking in the street instead of on the sidewalk.

At least one shot was fired in the car, but the officer shot Brown multiple times, killing him. The St. Louis County Police Department is still investigating the number of shots the officer fired. Brown wound up about 35 feet from the car when he was killed.

Brown's body remained on the street, guarded by police, for hours after the shooting.

The parties involved

Brown had just graduated high school and was set to start college at nearby Vatterott College on Monday.

"You took my son away from me," Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, told local TV news station KMOV. "Do you know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many. Because you bring them down to this type of level, where they feel like they don't got nothing to live for anyway. 'They're going to try to take me out anyway.'"

Brown was a member of the U.S. Army's Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps and a player on his high school football team. But he also had an eye for business; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Brown ran a fledgling operation in middle school, selling candy to classmates.

The officer has not been identified, though he has been an officer in Ferguson for six years. Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson, said Brown was running away from the officer when he was shot dead. Johnson allegedly hid behind a car.

A vigil leads to violence

A fire burns on Aug. 10 in Ferguson, Mo.

Image: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Robert Cohen/Associated Press

Outraged by what they felt was an unjust death, Ferguson residents arrived at the scene of the shooting after a vigil for Brown on Sunday night. Many began to shout things like, "No justice, no peace."

Some people looted and vandalized local shops and smashed police car windows.

A man leaves a store on Aug. 10 in Ferguson, Missouri.

Image: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Carson/Associated Press

The violence calmed down around 3:30 a.m. local time on Monday morning. Some 200 officers worked to quell the demonstration, and 32 people were arrested for burglary, theft or assault.

Passers-by and media take a closer look on Aug. 11 at the burned-out shell of the QuikTrip gas station that was torched during the violence that erupted in Ferguson, Mo.

Image: Sid Hastings/Associated Press

Two officers were injured during the night. A gun was reportedly fired at a patrolling police helicopter, though the bullets didn't do any damage. Officers used tear gas on protesters in an effort to quiet the scene.

Local residents gathered for a more peaceful demonstration on Monday.

The outrage off the streets

The hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown began cropping up on Twitter after the shooting, focusing on how the media portrayed Brown. Each tweet contained two images of a young black man or woman — one, depicting the person in an act of valor (in a suit or graduation gown); the other of that same person hanging out in street clothes and posing for the camera.

In Ferguson, police still stop blacks on the street disproportionately more often than they stop whites. In 2013, Ferguson police stopped black drivers 4,632 times and white drivers 686 times, equating to a difference of more than 600%. If they were stopping drivers in proportion to the population, the difference would be 200%.

What happens next?

Benjamin Crump, attorney for Trayvon Martin's family, speaks during the National Urban League's annual conference on July 26.

Image: Matt Rourke/Associated Press

No one has filed a lawsuit yet, as the investigation is ongoing. Brown's family has retained Benjamin Crump, the lawyer who represented the relatives of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager killed in an altercation with a Sanford, Florida, neighborhood watchman in 2012.

The police department has not yet revealed details about what led to the shooting, though officials alleged that Brown shoved the officer back into the police car and was trying to grab the officer's gun during the altercation.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has asked the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the incident, and the DOJ has said it will conduct an investigation alongside the FBI.

On Monday night, early reports said that protesters had returned to the streets of Ferguson, where the police responded in some cases with tear gas and rubber bullets:

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